OPINION:
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear appears to be readying for a presidential run in 2028.
The telegenic Democrat was on a speaking tour last year in the early primary state of South Carolina. He has a book coming out in September titled, “Go and Do Likewise: How We Heal a Broken Country,” a reference to Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan.
His publisher summarizes it this way: “By regrounding faith in compassion and kindness, he believes we can start to heal as a country.”
Compassion and kindness are God-given, but I thought we were in the midst of healing from the nightmare of the Biden years, with its promotion of atheism, illegal immigration, sexual anarchy and attacks on Catholics and pro-lifers.
Mr. Beshear, like Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, identifies as a Christian and a moderate and gets priceless media cover while supporting the Democratic Party’s radical social and economic agenda.
In 2023, for instance, he tried to block a state bill protecting minors from “gender-affirming care.”
The law prohibits doctors from subjecting gender-confused teens to puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and irreversible, disfiguring surgeries. The law also bans males from competing on girls’ sports teams. Most people think this makes sense.
Mr. Beshear insisted that such a law “would hurt kids and their families” and violate “parental rights.” He claimed there was no evidence of widespread harm. To which I say that one butchered child is too many and the evidence of harm is voluminous, including a growing number of suicides and transgender-related violence.
On the same day of Mr. Beshear’s veto, both houses of Kentucky’s Republican-controlled legislature overrode it. Naturally, a federal judge, Rebecca Grady Jennings, issued an immediate injunction halting enforcement. The case is still in litigation.
A year earlier, Judge Jennings, one of President Trump’s few clunker appointees, struck down a Kentucky law prohibiting abortions after 15 weeks and requiring medical oversight for abortion pills. Mr. Beshear also vetoed that bill, and the legislature overrode him.
In South Carolina, which went for Mr. Trump by 30 percentage points, Mr. Beshear emphasized his Christian faith while boasting that he was “a proud, pro-LGBTQ+ governor.” This is a stance that ignores Jesus Christ’s clear restating of God’s creation of male and female and God’s marriage-based sexual morality from Genesis.
According to The Washington Post, Mr. Beshear said, “My faith teaches me that all children are children of God, and I didn’t want people picking on those kids.” How about protecting them from quacks who sterilize them and turn them into lifetime medical cases?
By the way, politicians love to haul out the term “children of God” like a magic amulet. The Bible says we’re all created in the image of God but that we’re not children of God unless we believe in him and submit to God’s authority.
Until then, we’re on the other team, and I don’t mean the New Jersey Devils.
“But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name,” John 1:12 says. If we’re automatically children of God, then we wouldn’t need to be, as Jesus said, born again.
Anyway, Mr. Beshear is not the only wolf in sheep’s clothing. Democrats have become quite adept at using Christianese and buzzwords to fool people. President Obama often gave biblical scholars heartburn over his misappropriating Jesus’ words to justify sexual sin and confiscatory redistribution of wealth.
In Texas, state Rep. James Talarico is battling hard-left U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett for the Democratic nomination for U.S. senator. Like Mr. Beshear, Mr. Talarico touts his Christian faith while cleaving to a radical agenda.
“He delivers left-wing orthodoxy in centrist packaging and fights Christian nationalism with Scripture,” The Wall Street Journal explains. If you’re a patriotic Christian, then he is talking about you and your family as a threat to America. Much of his rhetoric revolves around Marxist class envy, such as “Make billionaires pay their fair share in taxes.”
During remarks opposing a bill protecting minors from transgender treatments, he said, “Jesus never once condemned transgender people.”
Well, Jesus didn’t need to, and he welcomed all repentant sinners. The Hebrew Scriptures are crystal clear on sexual morality. Sexual confusion is the province of paganism, which historically often involved child sacrifice as well. Any comparison to the pro-abortion, pro-LGBTQ Democratic Party inferred by readers at this juncture may not be coincidental.
In a 2024 interview with MSNBC, Mr. Talarico said, “Christian nationalism is dangerous. … When politicians use the Bible to push division and hate, they’re not following Jesus; they’re using his name for their own agenda.”
This is classic projection: Accuse your opponents of exactly what you’re doing.
At the University of Texas on Feb. 6, Mr. Talarico said, “I’m a Christian progressive. I believe the Gospel is inherently radical. It challenges the powerful, lifts up the poor and calls for justice in every sphere of life.”
When liberals talk about “justice,” they mean “social justice.” This is envy disguised as compassion, and it is politicized to enable governments to redistribute income and rewrite society’s moral code.
In the first six weeks of 2026, Mr. Talarico raised more than $7.4 million, compared with Ms. Crockett’s just over $2 million, even though she still has a lead in polls. He has raised $20 million since he launched his campaign in September.
Will Texas, like Mr. Beshear’s Kentucky, fall for a wolf in sheep’s clothing?
• Robert Knight is a columnist for The Washington Times. His website is roberthknight.com.
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